With the November winds the first winter snow arrives, and if you don’t already have a snow removal plan in place for your apartment complex, you need to get one right away. Failing to provide proper snow and ice management at your apartment complex not only puts you at risk for liability but also violates the law. For these reasons alone, it is an excellent idea to hire a firm to provide snow and ice management services. But what are some of the other benefits of hiring a commercial snow removal company?
Installing snow plows onto company vehicles is expensive, and not necessarily be a cost-effective way to manage the snow and ice that winter brings. Other equipment such as salt spreaders, and ATVs equipped with snow blades may only be needed a few times a year, and thus not really worth investing in. A professional commercial snow removal equipment company has all of the equipment necessary to do the job and the expertise to use it properly.
Commercial snow removal companies keep a constant eye on the weather and have their fleet of snow removal vehicles ready to leap into action when a winter storm is imminent. They have well-trained professionals who tear through snow-covered parking lots, walkways, and access roads and get it taken care of before it becomes a big problem.
Chances are if you have maintenance staff hired on as full-time employees, they don’t have a lot of experience with snow removal. Maybe they occasionally use snow blowers, or use a plow on the front of a pickup truck to push snow in an emergency, but do not do these tasks on a regular basis. This makes them inefficient when performing these tasks. Hiring professionals that do this for many hours each winter season gets you experienced snow warriors who know how to clear snow and ice quickly and effectively. This allows you to keep your maintenance staff working on what they know best keeping your apartment complex running smoothly.
Efficient and comprehensive snow and ice management services clear areas of dangerous ice and snow which may create slippage hazards to your tenants, or cause accidents in your parking lots or access roads. This not only keeps your tenants safer but also reduce your liability for these accidents because the snow and ice have been managed effectively.
Winter responsibilities don’t begin immediately after the first snow of the season hits the ground. It starts way before that. Installing snow blades on vehicles, stocking up on ice-melting pellets, training staff in the use of the snow removal equipment and proper shoveling techniques must also occur before that time. Then, all of the same equipment must be removed and properly stowed away each spring. This takes up a lot of time. Hiring a professional commercial snow removal company frees up your resources to work on more important tasks in the complex.
Look no further than Aeroscape. We have state-of-the-art GPS tracking on our fleet vehicles, as well as a fully-staffed operations call center ready to go when that storm hits. We provide a wide range of services including worry-free snow removal from roads, driveways, parking lots, and sidewalks, large snowfall clearing and hauling to save valuable space in your parking areas, and comprehensive de-icing services to assure that your lots and sidewalks are ice-free and safe. Give us a call at (801) 567-2383 or click on our Contact an Expert green arrow on any page of our website to get in touch with one of our snow and ice management experts today.
Some people see retaining walls as a quick and easy DIY landscape construction project that can be done in a single weekend, and perhaps you can do it if you have the right amount of help and the proper tools, but failing to prepare for and resolve these issues can cause unplanned problems for your retaining wall.
Installation of a retaining wall, especially one that is constructed on a slope, is harder than it looks. It involves a lot of digging, precise measurements, careful leveling of the foundation and stones as you construct it. You will also need a lot of paving stones to construct a retaining wall which can be a challenge if you need to move them to the retaining wall location yourself.
Most of the equipment you need to build a retaining wall is pretty standard: shovels, levels, rakes, hammers, and brooms. But other equipment may not be in your workshop and may need to be purchased:
If you do not take care to make sure the shallow trench you dig for the base of the wall is tamped down and made perfectly level using gravel and masonry sand before laying your first row of pavers, each row above that one will be a little more “off” than the first one, which can be a considerable issue in walls that have a lot of rows. This may create walls that appear lopsided or lean too far in one direction or the other.
One of the most common problems with retaining walls is when a retaining wall does not provide any drainage for wet soil. Wet soil is heavier and puts more pressure on the pavers that make up the wall. In order to mitigate this, backfill the area directly behind the bricks with crushed stone and gravel and install drain tile in order to channel excess water away from the wall itself.
Most retaining walls are built on a slope of some kind, and in these cases, the wall should never slope with the ground, but instead remain level. To accommodate the change in slope, you need to construct “steps” in the soil and not follow the slope of the hill (even underground). This helps make sure the pavers along the wall remain level.
It might be. In these cases, why not hire a landscape construction company to help you build your retaining wall. At Aeroscape, we are licensed and insured with over 15 years of residential and commercial landscape design and maintenance experience serving Salt Lake City, Midvale, West Valley City, and surrounding areas. We provide a comprehensive package of landscaping and hardscaping services to protect your investment. To learn more, give us a call at (801) 567-2383 or click on our Contact an Expert green arrow on any page of our website to speak with one of our landscape experts today.
